Salicylic acid induces differential antioxidant response in spring maize under high temperature stress

High temperature is one of the important stress factors that affect crops in tropical countries. Plants do evolve or adopt different mechanisms to overcome such stress for survival. It is an interesting subject and has attracted many researchers to work upon. Here, we studied the effect of salicylic acid (SA) on seedling growth and antioxidative defense system in two spring maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes viz., CML-32 (relatively heat tolerant) and LM-11 (relatively heat susceptible), under high temperature stress. High temperature induced greater reduction in dry biomass of LM-1 1 seedlings as compared to those of CML-32. There was a parallel increase in ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase activities in the roots of CML-32 seedlings. However, the activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase decreased and the contents of H202, proline and malonaldialdehyde (MDA) increased in seedlings of both the genotypes. Application of SA (400 µM) led to increased dry biomass in heat stressed CML-32 seedlings. It improved the efficiency of Halliwell-Asada pathway in roots of CML-32 seedlings as was evidenced by the enhanced ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase activities. The activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase increased in both the tissues of LM-11 seedlings, whereas in CML-32, it was only in shoots, after SA application. Peroxidase activity increased in SA treated seedlings of both the genotypes, though the increase was comparatively higher in CML-32. The contents of H₂O₂ and MDA decreased and that of proline increased in SA treated seedlings of both the genotypes, under stress conditions. It may be concluded that SA induced differential antioxidant response by upregulating Halliwell-Asada pathway in roots and attaining high POX activity in both the tissues of CML-32 seedlings, under high temperature stress.